Conventionally, as disclosed in International Publication No. 2012/046829, a configuration in which a mounting type electronic component is embedded in a laminate obtained by laminating insulating layers has been variously devised.
Such a conventional component-embedded substrate includes a laminate. When the laminate is viewed in a plan view, an electronic component is embedded substantially in the center of the laminate. The electronic component includes a rectangular parallelepiped-shaped main body, and a first external terminal electrode and a second external terminal electrode that are formed on the opposite end surfaces (side surfaces) of the main body, respectively. In the laminate, when the laminate is viewed in a plan view, a frame-shaped electrode is arranged so as to surround the electronic component. The frame-shaped electrode is arranged around the entire periphery of the electronic component. The frame-shaped electrode is arranged so as to be separated from the electronic component at a predetermined distance.
When the laminate is formed by thermocompression bonding a plurality of insulating layers made of thermoplastic resin in a state in which the electronic component is embedded, the conventional configuration can reduce or prevent the position of the electronic component from shifting from a desired position with the flow of the thermoplastic resin. However, the electronic component may slightly move at the time of thermocompression bonding in some cases. In such cases, if both the first external terminal electrode and the second external terminal electrode are connected to the frame-shaped electrode, the first external terminal electrode and the second external terminal electrode are short circuited. When such a short circuit occurs, the component-embedded substrate cannot obtain desired electrical characteristics.
In order to significantly reduce or prevent the short circuit between the frame-shaped electrode and the first and second external terminal electrodes due to movement of the electronic component, a distance between the frame-shaped electrode and the electronic component may be increased.
However, when the distance between the electronic component and the frame-shaped electrode is increased, the amount of thermoplastic resin between the electronic component and the frame-shaped electrode is increased, so that the range of the movement of the electronic component due to the flow of the thermoplastic resin is increased. This causes a possibility that the position of the electronic component can significantly shift from a desired position. In such a case, the electronic component can shift to a state of being connected to the electronic component, and then be embedded and fixed in the laminate in that state. When such a positional shift occurs, the frame-shaped electrode cannot obtain the original advantageous effects, and the component-embedded substrate cannot also obtain desired electrical characteristics.